II- MATH

Many Faces of Rizal

The Contributions of Rizal in the following field:

Rizal as Educator/ Teacher

Rizal was never just a hero for the Filipino masses but rather a pioneer in terms of promoting
education towards the youth. Rizal through his works and writings educated the Filipinos.
Although it is an indirect way of teaching or mentoring, this was of great help to the Filipino men
and women in elevating their understanding of the present circumstances then. But a clearer and
direct evidence of Rizal being an educator was his dedication in teaching the youth in Dapitan
when he was exiled. He opened a school which was attended by boys from the prominent families
of Dapitan. However, instead of asking for tuition fees, his 16 students only worked on his projects
in exchange of the time he dedicated to teaching them. Rizal made the boys work on his fields,
constructions and even community projects. He taught them to gather plants and animals in order
for him to preserve them and send his samples to his European scientist friends. In return, he taught
them reading, writing, languages both Spanish and English, geography, history, mathematics,
geometry, industrial work, study of nature, morals and even sports like gymnastics, boxing,
wrestling, stone throwing, swimming, arnis and boating for them to strengthen their bodies. His
curriculum was more European rather than Spanish. Rizal firmly believed of the youth being the
hope of the land thus he used his intellectual prowess and great skills to bring this dream to life.

Rizal as Engineer
On 15 January 1895, Rizal wrote to Blumentritt that he was “going to build a water-tank on my
land. I have 14 boys whom I teach languages, mathematics, and how to work, and as we have no
work I have decided to construct a dike of stone, brick, and mortar so that they may learn.” On 20
November of the same year, he wrote that he “made a wooden machine for making bricks” and
that he could “make at least 6,000 a day”. He eventually built an oven for the bricks.

Outside his land, Rizal helped the town by developing its first park, with street lamps and a
garden/flower relief map of the whole island of Mindanao. With support of the local authorities
and the residents, he constructed Dapitan’s aqueduct with a length of several kilometers using clay
tiles and lime. He also initiated plaza beautification and clean-up to improve health and sanitation.

Rizal as Farmer

Rizal’s farm had fruit trees (mangoes, lanzone, guayabanos, baluno, nanka, etc.), rabbits, dogs,
cats, chickens, rice, corn, ferns and flowers like roses and sampaguita.
 Rizal as Doctor

Rizal practiced ophthalmology, mainly in Calamba (August 1887-February 1888), Hong Kong
(November 1891-June 1892), and while in exile in the town of Dapitan (July 1892-July 1896). His
specialized skills brought him fame, and patients often traveled long distances to seek his care. In
Calamba in 1887, Rizal finally began to fulfill his lifelong dream of caring for his mother's
eyesight. He may have operated on his mother there, possibly performing an iridectomy as a
preliminary to cataract extraction. In Hong Kong in 1892, he successfully removed the cataract
from his mother's left eye. Several months later, he sent her glasses with instructions to cover the
right lens until he could operate on that eye. Two years later, at Dapitan, he extracted the right
cataract. He was dismayed by her postoperative course, however, as she disobeyed his instructions
and removed the bandages prematurely.

Rizal as an Artist

Dapitan's idyllic setting inspired Rizal's creativity. He wrote poems: Mi Retiro, Canto Del Viajero,
A Don Ricardo Carnicero, and A Josefina. For his students, he composed the song Himno a
Talisay that celebrates Dapitan's surroundings, the joys of childhood, and excellence in education.
Rizal sketched genre scenes of Dapitan's inhabitants and illustrated his scientific studies in
Descripcion de algunos peces con dibujos. In clay and wood, he produced sculptures recognized
for their lively and potent gestures: Mother's Revenge, The Boar, Oyang Dapitana, and Buglay.
According to his former Ateneo professor, Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, Rizal ingeniously
developed bakhaw paste from boiled fruits of the bakawan tree which he also used to create
figurines and produce roof tiles.

Rizal as a scientist

Rizal shared his interest with nature to his students. With his boys, they explored the jungles and
searched for specimens which he sent to museums in Europe, particularly in Dressed Museum. In
return, scientific books and surgical instruments were delivered to him from the European
scientists. He also made a bulk of other researches and studies in the fields of ethnography,
archaeology, geology, anthropology and geography. However, Rizal's most significant
contribution in the scientific world was his discovery of three species: Draco rizali– flying
dragono; Apogonia rizali– small beetle; and Rhacophorus rizali– rare frog.

Rizal as a Feminist

In his time, was known for being a patriotic writer. But unknown to most people, Rizal was a
feminist who supported women in their fight for equality. During his time, women was deprived
of their rights, their dignity and worth was not being respected by many, especially by the Spanish
authority. Rizal showed his support by writing a letter addressed to the women in Malolos (see,
“Letter to the Young Women of Malolos”, 1889). In this letter, Rizal paid homage to the twenty
(20) courageous women of the said town for their desire to educate themselves, which in that time,
was considered a liberating action. Rizal saw this woman as a ray of hope in restoring the Filipino
women’s denigrated dignity. Though the appeal of having a night school was abolished, these
women coursed on, and was later given an approval.

Rizal as a linguist

Rizal was interested in the languages used in Dapitan, thus, studied and made comparisons of the
Bisayan and Malayan languages existing in the region. In fact, Rizal had knowledge in 22
languages: Tagalog, Ilocano, Bisayan, Subanun, Spanish, Latin, Greek, English, French, German,
Arabic, Malayan, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Dutch, Catalan, Italian, Chinese, Japanes, Portuguese,
Swedish and Russian.

Rizal as inventor

He invented a cigarette lighter, which he called sulpakan, and sent it to Blumentritt in 1887 as a
gift. The lighter used a compressed air mechanism. While in Dapitan, Rizal also inventeda wooden
machine for making bricks which turned out about 6,000 bricks daily.

Rizal as a Businessman